


The true meaning of giving

by kiwialicat



Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: Black Caps, Christmas, Fluff, Humour, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-26 15:44:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13238919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwialicat/pseuds/kiwialicat
Summary: It’s two days before Jimmy can confront his leggie, and they are two exceptionally long days, during which Jimmy has to nicely answer all of Ish’s texts and not let on that he is a seething ball of hurt and resentment on the inside.When re-gifting goes wrong...or maybe right?





	The true meaning of giving

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maythefoursbewithyou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maythefoursbewithyou/gifts).



Jimmy can’t remember being this anxious about something ever before.  Sure, there are bound to have been times when he _has_ been.  Plenty of times when he’s been at the crease and staring down the barrel of a seven foot Australian fast bowler; the whites of his eyes growing impossibly large as he steams in.  Those times were definitely scary. They even may have made Jimmy a little bit weak at the knees, but somehow he doesn’t really recall them being lie-awake-at-night, stomach-churners.  Not like this.

Jimmy chews at his lip and flicks the page over.  His knee has started bobbing up and down as he shuffles restlessly in his seat.  There’s a pile of recently delivered junk mail on the table in front of him. His eyes skim over picnic hampers and glassware sets before it occurs to him what he’s looking at.

He closes the shiny multipage catalogue and stares at the cheerful Briscoes lady, her smile a constant promise of a bargain for all.

Fuck.  This really will not do.  That hamper looked good though… _No_.  Jimmy shakes his head and chucks the Briscoes catalogue on the floor, as if he’s revolted by its mere presence.

He riffles through the rest of the stack and frowns.  Didn’t blu blockers go out of fashion 15 years ago?

Pushing his head into his hands, he nearly misses the subtle vibration of his phone on the table top.

_You better have got me something good Neesham_

Jimmy thinks for a minute someone is watching him.  He’s been caught looking through catalogues, and not just _any_ catalogues.  He’s ready to punch in a hasty denial of any links with the brown haired smiling assassin that’s now lying discarded somewhere at his feet, but he somehow manages to stop himself in time.

_You know it babe_

Babe? Jimmy’s frowning again.  The lie itself is bad enough, but the term of endearment?  Well, if you can call it that.

_Babe? You know I love it when you treat me like your girlfriend_

This is followed by a winking emoji, leading Jimmy to believe he’s gotten away with one, and helping a smile spread its way slowly across his lips as he types out his reply.

_How many times have I told you you’re the girl in this relationship?_

He watches the screen, as the seconds tick by, expecting, no _hoping_ , for some sort of smut-filled reply about that not being what he said last time they were together.

_No hints then?_

And Jimmy’s back to feeling anxious again.  His eyes fall on a Dominoes two for one voucher before he shakes his head.

_You’ll just have to be patient.  See you Thursday_

Shit.  Shit shit shit.

Jimmy had arranged to meet with his ‘girlfriend’ who really isn’t a girl, before Christmas for a mini celebration and exchanging of gifts.  It’s the same thing they did last year, and Jimmy feels a little warm and fuzzy inside at the idea that this is becoming a yearly ritual.  Of course the warm and fuzzy is mixed with more than a dash of slightly ill and worried.  If only this year were as easy as last year.  Last year Jimmy hit the jackpot.  He found the perfect gift in no time at all.  He had counted the days until they’d been able to get together so he could delight his leggie in person with his thoughtfulness and originality. Jimmy was the present buying king.  Well, last year he had been.  He just needed to find a way to get that gift-giving mojo back again.

Clearly there was only one thing for it.

Jimmy’s fingers flick urgently through the names in his mobile’s address book. 

“One of you losers has to have some ideas,” he mutters to himself.

Okay, so his team mates are not exactly losers.  They are highly capable young men like himself.  One of them is _bound_ to have a brilliant suggestion for a Christmas gift.

Jimmy nods in quiet confidence and holds his phone up to his ear as it rings.

“Lo?”

“Heeeey Slinky Malinki!”

There’s silence, before a slightly bemused, “who is this?”

“It’s Jimmy.”

“I don’t know any…oh wait…Neesham?”

“Hang on, you know at _least_ five Jimmy’s.”  Jimmy tries desperately to stay on track.  This is about the gift-giving, afterall.  He fails miserably. “Wait - how come my number isn’t in your phone?”

This is followed by another stretch of silence.

“Okay well, doesn’t matter,” Jimmy shakes his head as he fills the silence first, “I need your help.”

“Oh no…no no no. I am _not_ helping you get back into the team.  Plus, the last time I did you a favour I couldn’t walk straight for days.”

“What?”  Jimmy’s squinting now, trying desperately to remember what that was about.  Perhaps he should have rung Tom first.  Tom was always nice to him. “Look, I don’t need you to do anything, I just want some advice.”

More silence. 

“I don’t know what to get Ish for Christmas,” Jimmy lets the words out in a rush, instantly recognising the slightly desperate tone in his voice and wincing.  He waits for what he now realises is likely to be another snide remark rather than any usable suggestion, but after another 30 seconds he finds himself holding his phone out in front of him and peering at the screen to find the call is disconnected.

“Huh.  Must have been a bad connection,” he explains to the empty room.

Jimmy scowls as he flicks through his contact list again, until his eyes light upon the name he’s been looking for.

With renewed confidence, Jimmy hits dial and waits.

“Jimmy!”

Jimmy grins, unreasonably pleased that someone has his name in their phone, and sounds not unhappy to hear from him.

“Big Cozza, how are ya?”

“Aww, you know, wheeling and dealing, ducking and diving.”

Now it’s Jimmy’s turn to let the silence stretch out, as he wonders why Corey sounds like he’s just come from the East End.

“Nah, rehabbing mostly.  How’s things with you?”

“Yeah…” Jimmy purses his lips, “listen, I need your advice.  What’s a good Christmas present for a man?”

“What like, your Dad?  Whatever you do, don’t get socks.”

Jimmy’s shaking his head before he realises Corey can’t see him, “no, not Dad…I need to get something for Ish.  Something good.”

“Ooooh,” Jimmy can hear the grin on Corey’s face and is imaging his expression easily, “something for your booooyfriend.”

Jimmy’s glad of the distance between them as he feels his cheeks heat slightly, “yeah yeah, so I want to be a nice person and get something decent, tease away.”

Corey chuckles, “I think it’s adorable.  And, I’m here for you.  I know exactly what you _shouldn’t_ get him.”

That should have been it.  The moment when Jimmy realised things were about to go wrong.  But no, Jimmy didn’t pick up on anything until the truth hit him head on delivered in cheerful good-natured manner as only Corey can do.

“Ish got given the worst gift ever last year.”

“Yeah?”  Jimmy picks at a bit of thread poking out of the table cloth.

“Yeah, I took it off his hands to give to my brother, and I think he gave it to the mother in law.”  Jimmy glances at this watch mindlessly.

Corey chuckles again, “as if anyone would want a battery powered head massager.”

Jimmy’s stomach drops.  He’d only been half-listening to Corey, but the words repeat in his head, along with Corey’s tone of voice, which is actually the worst part.

“Jimmy?”  Jimmy takes a moment to realise he’s still in a conversation.   One where the other person has no clue that Jimmy has just been rendered speechless, and yes, hurt, mortified even, at the revelation that his gift, his amazingly thoughtful gift, was actually nothing of the sort.

“I…gotta go.”

Jimmy stabs at the red button on his phone several times until he’s sure Corey’s no longer connected, and then resists the urge to throw the phone across the room.

He starts pushing at the letters on the screen furiously.

_How could you?_

Hmmm…not specific enough. Delete.

_I put a lot of thought into that gift.  You said you loved it_

Hmmm…doesn’t get across how I feel. Delete.

_Fucking hell Ish!!!!_

Jimmy’s finger hovers over the send button, before eventually he deletes these words too.  Really, this is a phonecall, not a text. 

Jimmy brings up Ish’s number and frowns.  No, this isn’t a phonecall, this is a face to face conversation, damn it.

Jimmy knows one thing for sure, his hunt for the perfect gift is well and truly over.

It’s two days before Jimmy can confront his leggie, and they are two exceptionally long days, during which Jimmy has to nicely answer all of Ish’s texts and not let on that he is a seething ball of hurt and resentment on the inside.

There can be no possible explanation for Ish passing on Jimmy’s incredibly well thought out gift, but still, filling the hours until Ish arrives at Jimmy’s front door, he tries to concoct one anyway.

_“But Jimmy, baaaaaabe, I had this one experience when I was a kid where I got attacked by a kitchen whisk and ever since then…”_

Jimmy sits and scowls.  He continues to scowl as he eventually gets up and peers out the window.  He wonders if Ish can sense the bad karma as he makes his way up his driveway from the road.  By the time this happens, Jimmy has retreated to his room and slumped onto his bed.

He hears a key turn in the lock down the hall and feels his body steal itself for the confrontation ahead.  And then, well, Ish just has to go ahead and ruin it all.

“James?  Where are you hiding you bald freak?”

Jimmy presses his lips together, despite his resolve, to ward off the overwhelming urge to smile a little.  Jimmy had of course, not counted on Ish being so…well, like Ish.  In Jimmy’s mind he had changed from the funny, easy going guy that Jimmy was smitten with, to some heartless re-gifting bastard.

Jimmy’s still waging an internal battle when Ish’s head appears around the edge of his bedroom door.

“Found you.”  Ish drops the bag in this hand on Jimmy’s floor and flops onto the bed next to Jimmy, grinning as he lies back and turns his head. “I’m here.”

Jimmy can feel his face cracking.  _Heartless re-gifting bastard._

He’d planned how he was going to start this.  He’d practiced exactly how his was going to go.  As Jimmy turns his head to see Ish roll onto his side to face him, his fingers dancing softly over the front of Jimmy’s t-shirt, he wonders if maybe that stuff can wait a little bit.

“Jim?”

Jimmy’s eyes have found their way to Ish’s fingers, annoyingly gentle and well, nice feeling on his chest.

“Jiiiiiiiiiim? Did you miss me?  I missed you.”

And damn it, are those Ish’s fingers moving a little lower?  Yeah, it’s probably okay if Jimmy waits until later to bring up the present thing.   Obviously Ish is completely overwhelmed by Jimmy’s raw animal magnetism, and it wouldn’t be fair to verbally abuse him at a time when he can’t adequately defend himself.  And also…oooh…Jimmy squirms and lets Ish push his fingers into his recently unzipped jeans.  Definitely waiting a little bit.  Ish will keep.

Ten minutes later, and Jimmy’s floating.  Okay, so he’s still lying on his bed, but he feels like he could be floating and that maybe he might drift off to sleep.

“You missed me then.”

Jimmy manages to stay conscious and open his eyes to look at Ish.  _Heartless re-gifting bastard who gives excellent hand jobs._

“I – ”

It feels a little like Jimmy’s world has slowed along with his reaction times, as Ish is easily filling his vision seconds before cutting off his feeble attempt at words with his mouth.

It might be five minutes, or maybe an hour before Jimmy can get the oxygen moving towards his brain again.  Somewhere along the way, Ish got good at kissing, and Jimmy’s not one to get in the way of anyone showing off their skills.

When Ish finally lifts his head to hover close with a silly grin on his dial, Jimmy mutters something that neither of them can quite make out.

“What?” Ish looks curious and slowly sits up.

Jimmy looks sheepish and shakes his head.  He’s pretty sure he let out his _Heartless re-gifting_ mantra, but damn it if Ish isn’t too nice, and just way too… _present_ for Jimmy to get mad at.  Maybe later, when he’s not just been taken advantage of.  Jimmy nods to himself, and notices Ish looking at him strangely.

“You’re weird, you know that baldy?”  Ish slaps Jimmy playfully on the thigh, “and you need to shower and dress up so you can take me out on the town.”

Before Jimmy can protest, Ish is up and peering around his room.  He lifts up some discarded items of clothing from a nearby chair before dropping them again.

“So where are you hiding it?”

Jimmy watches Ish move towards his wardrobe, forcing the door open only to be greeted by a collection of cricket gear falling onto the floor at his feet.

“It?” Ish looks back at Jimmy, unfazed by the stack of pads surrounding his shins.

“My present, silly.”

Jimmy somehow gets himself upright and off the bed.

“I’m not hiding it.” Jimmy feels something approaching resolve returning and straightens up to his full height.

Ish is looking at him intently, perhaps trying to figure out if Jimmy is fibbing.

“So that means…it’s being delivered?”  Jimmy watches Ish’s eyes light up at the idea, “that’s because it’s big right?  You can’t hide it.”

Jimmy feels his resolve crumbling slightly.  He breathes in and sets his jaw, ignoring the smile lighting up Ish’s eyes by glancing at the corner of the room.

“I…” Jimmy senses Ish turning to follow his eye-line.  Damn it, they’re just words, “I know what you did.” Jimmy breathes again and squints up his eyes as he peers back at Ish.  He’s done it.  Obviously what he’s just said was enough to tell Ish he’s fully aware of his re-gifting treachery, and now all Jimmy has to do is wait.  Ish will fall to his knees and beg, no _grovel_ , for Jimmy’s forgiveness.  Jimmy will need to consider this carefully.  It’ll take some time for Ish to gain Jimmy’s trust again and…wait, why is Ish smiling like that?  

“Aww you’re so fucking hot when you pout like that.”

“I’m not – ” Jimmy feels his bottom lip poke out even as he’s in the process of denying it and promptly cuts off the denial.

Just as he’s about to add on in no uncertain terms how unacceptable Ish’s behaviour has been, Ish pulls a swifty and sidles up to him, slipping his arm comfortably around Jimmy’s waist, and throwing Jimmy completely off his game.

“What did I do?”

Jimmy glowers, though he’s not sure his expression is really having the desired effect as he feels searching fingers slip under the back of his shirt.

“You…”

Ish pushes his lips into Jimmy’s neck and murmurs softly, “whatever it is…I’m gonna do it again so you get all worked up like this.”

Jimmy presses his lips together.  Are you a man or a mouse, Neesham?

“No…no!”  And somehow with a burst of willpower a weaker man would not have been able to summon, Jimmy takes a step back and holds Ish at arm’s length.

“Wow, this is serious.” And yet still, the playful delivery of the words and the light smile tugging up the corner of Ish’s mouth suggests that Jimmy hasn’t quite conveyed the gravity of the situation.

“The head massager.”

Jimmy watches Ish’s smile falter for a second.

“The…hang on - is this about the joke present you gave me last year?”  And the smile is back again, wider this time.

Jimmy feels his chest puff out slightly in indignation, “by joke present, I assume you’re referring to the thoughtful, carefully chosen personal lifestyle aid I have you.”

And now Ish is chuckling.  Not the response Jimmy was after.

“Okay, so you just made it sound like you bought me a vibrator.”  Ish is doing his best to raise an eyebrow as he takes a stride back into Jimmy’s personal space. “Maybe you _should_ have bought me a vibrator.”

“Why?  Because you wouldn’t have given it to Corey if I had?”  Jimmy’s definitely sounding grumpy now.  There is absolutely no mistaking it.

“Damn right I wouldn’t have given it to Corey.” Ish leans in a little closer and waggles his eyebrows.  Jimmy should have seen it coming, “I would have had you use it on me.”

Jimmy swallows and clenches his fists, “this…it…” he closes his mouth, before somehow forcing out between gritted teeth, “it wasn’t a joke present.”

And that does it.  Ish takes a step back and peers at Jimmy thoughtfully.

Aha, here comes the apology.  Jimmy waits.  Ish looks at him. 

“You know…” Jimmy watches Ish’s expression change again.  “Next time you want to have a serious conversation with me, you might want to do it without little Jimmy winking at me.”

“Little…” Jimmy’s mind reaches its destination slowly, helped by Ish’s not so subtle glance downwards.

Jimmy is standing here with his fly still undone.  He moves his hand to right the situation but Ish is way too quick for him and stills his movements with a hand around his wrist as he decides it’s safe to get up in Jimmy’s face again.

“Not complaining,” Ish mutters far too seductively against Jimmy’s jaw.

“Heartless re-gifting bastard,” Jimmy mutters in response, something inside him softening as he does.

“So you’re all hot under the collar because I gave away the Christmas gift you bought me last year?”

Ish sounds genuinely concerned for the first time, and Jimmy doesn’t feel in anyway vindicated.  He just feels a little bit silly.

“I’m sorry.”  Ish looks at Jimmy and Jimmy doesn’t quite know what he’s supposed to do now he’s got an apology.

“You know what though?” And Jimmy’s glad that he gets to shut up and listen right now. “I don’t want you to buy me anything for Christmas.”

“Yeah well,” and Jimmy sounds a little sheepish as he admits it, “I was kinda pissed at you, so…”

“You haven’t got me anything.” Ish is amused as Jimmy nods. “Good.  I haven’t got you anything either.”

“Well go us.” Jimmy smiles.  He does feel more than a little foolish now, but he’s also come to the realisation that perhaps the best gift is the one he doesn’t have to think too much about.

“I think this means we might have to think of other creative ways to show eachother we care.”

“Hmm…” Jimmy feels his body ease back towards that slightly floaty feeling, “you know I’m actually pretty good at massages.”

“Oh?” Ish smirks, “it’s funny, but I had a feeling you might be.  I mean, who needs a battery operated lifestyle aid when you can have the real thing?”

Jimmy nods, attempting a serious look, “and there’s another bonus…I don’t just do head massages.”

Ish raises an eyebrow, “and last time I checked, you didn’t need batteries.”

Jimmy winks, “maybe you just haven’t found where to insert them yet.”

Ish laughs, and it spreads through Jimmy easily as he pulls them both back down onto the bed.

He pushes his fingers gently into Ish’s hair and watches Ish close his eyes, a look of bliss spreading across his face as he begins to rub gently.

“Okay,” Jimmy concedes, “perhaps re-gifting my present wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”

Ish moans softly in agreement and Jimmy settles into his work with a smile on his face.

 

END.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I enjoyed putting this together, which I don't often say when it comes to challenges. And I did get gifted a battery powered head-massager as a Secret Santa gift from a co-worker. Life inspires art :p


End file.
